Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 17, 1994 TAG: 9403170124
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Eubank, 58, was convicted of six rape and sexual-abuse charges that dated back to 1971.
Two sisters - now in their mid-30s - told Roanoke County Circuit Judge Kenneth Trabue that Eubank had sex with them on a regular basis for three years, beginning when they were 12 and 13.
"He was constantly wanting to touch us and constantly telling us that he was going to make us women," the older sister testified.
It was believed to be one of the oldest sexual-abuse cases to be prosecuted in Roanoke County, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Leach.
A case that would have been weakened by time gained strength last spring, when Eubank confessed to at least two offenses after being confronted by police.
Eubank broke down on the witness stand Wednesday, testifying that he had been tormented for years by guilt.
But he denied the relationships were as extensive as described by the sisters, one of whom said the abuse spanned three years and included sex with Eubank more than 100 times.
Because the girls were between the ages of 12 and 15 at the time of the offenses, consent was not an issue. The older victim testified that she resisted Eubank's advances - unlike her younger sister.
"She wanted to be with him, because he manipulated her," she said. Eubank plied the girls with money, she said, and told them they would only get in trouble if they told anyone what happened.
"He knew we were an easy catch with his money and his favors," she said.
Asked why she waited so long to report the abuse to police, the woman said: "Because I had suppressed it for so long. I didn't want to relive this life again. It's not something anyone wants to live through, much less relive it again."
Although she was reluctant to stir up painful memories, the woman said she agreed to tell her story in support of her younger sister.
"She has been tormented by all of this," she said. "Her life has been ripped apart."
Both women testified that as children they visited Eubank - who lived across the street from their home in the Hanging Rock area - regularly to play pingpong and ride his motorcycle.
They said they were 12 and 13 when Eubank first sexually abused them during a game of hide-and-seek in his front yard. They said he went to a pine tree they were hiding behind and began to fondle them.
In the years that followed, they testified, Eubank had sex with them in a camper parked in his yard, in a neighbor's yard, and sometimes in his house while his wife was at church.
The younger sister testified that the abuse included both intercourse and oral sex, and that it did not stop until she ran away from home at the age of 15.
Prosecutors had brought a total of eight charges, but Trabue dismissed two of them. Eubank is scheduled to be sentenced May 11 and faces a maximum punishment of life plus 50 years in prison.
Eubank, who coughed frequently during Wednesday's hearing and occasionally breathed from an inhaler, was allowed to remain free on bond until sentencing.
Indictments against Eubank alleged the offenses happened "on or between Jan. 1, 1971, and Dec. 31, 1973."
Defense Attorney Al Wilson had asked that the charges be dismissed, arguing that Eubank could not defend himself against such sweeping allegations that happened so long ago.
"It was a great impairment," Wilson said. "The biggest problem was finding witnesses. The best witness we could have called was my client's wife, and she died two years ago."
But in the end, Eubank's own memories may have hurt him the most.
Debbie Hogan, a Roanoke County police detective who investigated the case, testified that Eubank at first denied everything when she approached him last spring, then called her back to change his story.
"I remember him saying that he had read the Scriptures," she said, "and he wanted to relieve this burden."
by CNB